


Godfathers

by shnixangel



Category: BBC Radio 1 RPF, One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-10
Updated: 2016-04-10
Packaged: 2018-06-01 09:20:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6512512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shnixangel/pseuds/shnixangel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>‘You’ve made who the other Godfather?’ Nick asked in disbelief as Harry sat smugly in front of him in the pub just down the road from Nick’s place.<br/>‘You heard.  Lou.’<br/>‘Teasdale?’ Nick asked hopefully.</p>
<p>Harry tilted his head and cocked an eyebrow at Nick.  ‘GodFATHER?’<br/>‘You can’t be serious – we can’t both be godfathers to your baby!’</p>
<p>Harry laughed.  ‘My baby has a name.’<br/>‘Sorry, Oliver.  Me and Louis?  Louis Tomlinson?  Your band mate who you used to shag on a fairly regular occasion?’</p>
            </blockquote>





	Godfathers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shniam](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shniam/gifts).



> This was a present for Shniam whose on a long flight today!
> 
> It's unbeta'd as she normally beta's for me but as this was a present, there was nobody else to ask!

‘You’ve made who the other Godfather?’ Nick asked in disbelief as Harry sat smugly in front of him in the pub just down the road from Nick’s place.  
‘You heard. Lou.’  
‘Teasdale?’ Nick asked hopefully.

Harry tilted his head and cocked an eyebrow at Nick. ‘GodFATHER?’  
‘You can’t be serious – we can’t both be godfathers to your baby!’

Harry laughed. ‘My baby has a name.’  
‘Sorry, Oliver. Me and Louis? Louis Tomlinson? Your band mate who you used to shag on a fairly regular occasion?’

‘Shh! Anyway, that was a very long time ago.’ Harry hushed Nick gently.  
‘Well, if I remember rightly, you were head over heels in love with him, so I’m kind of curious as to why you’d make him a godfather.’ Nick asked.  
‘Because he’s my best mate Nick, and it wouldn’t be right for Oliver to not have him as a godfather. And you may recall that I’m now head over heels in love with Niall, hence the baby we are just about to have via a surrogate.’ Harry reminded him.

Nick sighed and shook his head. ‘You realise this is a recipe for disaster, don’t you? It will not end well.’

Harry smiled smugly at Nick. ‘We’ll see.’

*** 

Four weeks later, and Harry surprised Nick by turning up on his doorstep with Oliver.

‘Come on in, this is a lovely surprise. Hey little Oliver!’ Nick grinned, taking the car seat from Harry. ‘Just passing?’ Nick asked, shutting the door.

‘Well, yes, but I also need a favour.’ Harry said, kicking off his boots and dragging a few bags into the lounge.

Nick narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Harry. ‘Oh yeah?’  
‘Niall and I have got some things to arrange for the christening, so I wondered if I could leave Oli here for a few hours?’ 

‘Of course you can. How long is a few hours?’  
‘I’ll be as quick as I can. I’ve told Louis you’ve got Oli here so if you need help with anything, then give him a call. He’s staying with Liam at the moment, so he’s only in Canary Wharf and can be here quite quick.’

‘Like I need help with babies! Oli isn’t my only godson, you know.’ Nick reminded Harry as Oli looked up at him with his big eyes.  
‘But he is the youngest baby you’ve ever looked after, he’s only 11 days Nick, so you know, be careful with him.’

Nick picked up Oli as Harry left half an hour later, having left 4 pages of typed up, detailed notes as to what to do.

‘Honestly, your daddy thinks your Uncle Nick is a muppet.’ Nick muttered to Oli as they waved Harry’s car off.

Once Harry’s car had turned the corner, Nick jogged up the steps to his building with Oli tucked safely in the crook of his neck. ‘Shit, where’s my keys?’ Nick asked in a sudden panic.

Feeling his pockets, Nick’s heart started racing as he couldn’t find them. Pressing the buzzer to one of his neighbours’ properties, he sighed with relief when Sophie, who lived in the same building, let him in.

‘Please tell me you have a key to my place.’ Nick pleaded as she opened her front door.  
‘Oh Nick! When did you have a baby?!’ She cried excitedly.  
‘He’s not mine, he’s…a friend’s. Do you have my key?’ Nick asked again as Sophie laughed at him, opened a drawer in the table next to her and waved it in front of him.  
‘Oh thank god, Harry would’ve killed me.’ Nick sighed with relief, slumping against the door frame as Oli wriggled against his chest.

‘Harry and Niall? This is their baby? Oh Nick, he’s just gorgeous.’ Sophie smiled, passing Nick the key.

*** 

An hour later, Nick finally escaped back to his own flat, letting himself in as Oli started to scream for food.

Locating Harry’s notes, Nick grabbed a nappy bag and spilled the contents all over the dining table, picking up a bottle of, he hoped, cooled water, and some formula powder. Looking around for where to put Oli whilst he mixed the bottle, Nick rested him on the sofa, standing directly in front of Oli in case he decided to learn to roll early and mixed the bottle, whilst Oli turned almost bright red in front of his eyes, demanding food.

A minute later and Oli was snuggled into the crook of Nick’s arm as Nick popped the teat of the bottle in Oli’s mouth and Nick let out a loud sigh of relief at the silence.

*** 

Nick had just got Oli to sleep when there was a knock at the door. ‘Bloody people.’ He grumbled as he stood up carefully, not wanting to wake Oli up before padding over to the front door.

‘Tomlinson.’ Nick said with a suspicious smile as he opened the front door.  
‘Harry told me you were in charge of Oli, and I’d quite like to see my godson live to see his christening.’ Louis grinned.  
‘Well, be quiet, I’ve only just got him to sleep.’ Nick tutted, standing to one side and letting Louis in.

‘Oh come on, he’s the easiest baby ever, he sleeps like 20 hours a day, it wouldn’t have been that hard.’ Louis scoffed, taking off his shoes and following Nick into the lounge. 

‘Nice place.’ He commented as Nick sat down gently on the sofa and Louis sat down on the sofa opposite.   
‘You’ve been here before.’ Nick reminded him.  
‘Like 4 years ago, with Haz, and I was wasted so I don’t remember much about it.’ Louis laughed. ‘Oh my god, 4 pages of notes?!’ Louis exclaimed, seeing the notes on the coffee table between them.

Nick rolled his eyes. ‘Quite honestly, I’m amazed that he’s not sent in a surveillance team to check on me. Although, I’m very glad he didn’t, I locked myself out when he left.’ He admitted with a smile.

Louis let out a loud laugh. ‘Oh my god, please let me be there when you tell him!’  
‘I’m not going to tell him! What do you think I am, stupid?!’  
‘Well…anyway, what does a man have to do around here to get a cup of tea?’  
‘I’m a little bit busy with the baby, you know.’ Nick said, tilting his head as if to remind Louis that Oli was asleep on his chest.

Louis tutted and stood up. ‘Fine!’ He laughed, looking around for the kitchen. ‘I’ll do it myself.’

Louis searched around for a light switch before blinking at the kitchen. ‘Black kitchen, seriously?’ He called out.  
‘It was like that when I moved in.’ Nick called back quietly.  
‘Yeah, yeah…’ Louis mumbled to himself. ‘What the hell is agave honey?’ He asked, searching for tea bags, mugs and sugar.  
‘Are you always so nosey in other people’s homes?’ Nick asked, getting up again and propping Oli down in the car seat.  
‘Yes, ask Harry. What the fuck is it?’  
‘It’s honey.’ Nick replied tersely as he watched Louis struggle to reach the tea bags.  
‘No it’s fucking not.’ Louis sneered, knocking the tea bags down with a spatula and grinning smugly.  
‘It’s from cactus.’ Nick told him, opening the fridge and getting out the milk.

Louis looked over at Nick. ‘Oh my god, I can’t believe Harry made you godfather, fucking cactus honey?!’ He said in disbelief.

‘Bugger off and I’ll make the tea, shall I?’ Nick asked with a laugh.

*** 

‘Oh my god, Louis, what did you do to him?’ Nick asked as he pushed open the front door. He’d popped to the deli on Regent’s Park Road nearest to him half an hour ago to get them some lunch, and as he’d let himself into the building, he could hear Oli crying.

‘I didn’t do anything! I just can’t get him to hush, and I can always get babies to quieten down.’ Louis said, looking stressed.

‘Told you, didn’t I, when you arrived!’ Nick said smugly, glad that it wasn’t just him that had struggled to get Oli to sleep.  
Nick put the bags of food down and gently took Oli from Louis and hushed him as Oli settled into his neck, his crying stopping almost immediately as he huffed out a contented sigh.

Louis raised an eyebrow. ‘Wow. Look at you, baby whisperer!’ He laughed quietly as Oli’s eyes started to droop.

*** 

‘When did Harry say he’d be back?’ Louis asked Nick an hour later once Oli was fast asleep in his car seat and they’d had some lunch.  
‘He didn’t, he said they needed a couple of hours, but it’s been like 3 hours now.’  
‘Shall we take Oli for a walk?’  
‘Is that a good idea?’ Nick asked.  
‘What? It’s not like we’re not going to strap him in properly and tip him out onto the bloody pavement, I’m not a complete imbecile!’ Louis replied hotly.

Nick rolled his eyes. ‘Always so fucking dramatic! I meant, what if you’re seen with me? Aren’t we, like, sworn enemies or summat?’

‘Oh.’ Louis replied. ‘Fuck it, they’re likely to turn up at the bloody christening place and see us being godfathers, so might as well get them used to the fact we don’t hate each other.’

Nick smirked. ‘Don’t we?’ He teased.  
‘Well, I could get used to your face I guess, if I had to.’ Louis said, before suddenly standing up and whipping their plates off of the coffee table in front of them, his cheeks a fetching shade of pink, Nick noticed.

*** 

‘So I called Harry, and they’ve only gone for bloody dinner!’ Nick told Louis as they started walking down Nick’s street towards Regent’s Park.  
‘They’ve done what?!’ Louis laughed. ‘Nice of them to check that we were coping ok!’  
‘Well, you’ve been around children you’re entire life, and he knows I have my niece and nephew to stay every so often.’ Nick said, glancing around quickly to make sure there weren’t any photographers hiding behind cars.  
‘Yeah, but not at a couple of weeks. Guess they must be exhausted.’ Louis said.  
‘I’m so proud of them, you know? It’s really hard to be out, especially when you’re as high profile as you guys are, and I know they got a really rough ride when they came out, but to have a baby and effectively stick two fingers up to the haters, is pretty good.’  
‘They did have a rough time when they came out, yeah.’ Louis agreed. ‘Kind of put my own decision on the back burner, that’s for sure.’

‘That’s understandable. I still get grief for it now. Look, there’s always going to be people who don’t like you for it, but they aren’t worth the time of day.’ Nick said.

*** 

Half an hour later, they sat down on the grass in Regent’s Park.  
‘Can I ask you something?’ Nick asked as Oli looked around him, cooing quietly in his car seat which was now placed on the grass.

Louis nodded, moving his baby finger which was clenched in Oli’s fist.

‘Who broke it off? You or Harry?’  
‘What, years ago?’ Louis asked, glancing up at Nick and then away.  
‘Yeah. If that’s not too nosey.’ Nick added.

Louis smiled. ‘It’s ok, Harry said you’re a nosey bastard! Neither of us really, we just kind of stopped doing it.’  
‘You know he was in love with you, right?’

Louis nodded slowly. ‘I was in love with him too, but we knew it wouldn’t last, not with management breathing down our necks all the bloody time.’ He shrugged. ‘We just decided it was too hard and whilst we loved each other, I don’t think either of us expected to spend the rest of our lives with the other one, so we decided that for the sake of our sanity, it was best if we stopped.’

‘You make it sound so easy!’ Nick laughed.  
‘It wasn’t. It was fucking hard. We hooked up a few times afterwards, knowing we shouldn’t and then…well, then there was Niall and he looked at Harry like he’d invented the sun or something and I could tell that Harry loved the attention, but then, I dunno, something changed and he fell head over heels in love with Niall and the rest is history.’ Louis replied, moving his hand away as Oli dropped his finger.

‘Are you with anyone now?’ Nick asked.  
Shaking his head, Louis sighed. ‘It’s not very easy, really, when only industry people know. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m propositioned a lot, but I kind of want what Harry and Niall have got, yeah?’

‘A baby?’ Nick nudged him gently.

Louis burst out laughing. ‘Not quite yet, no! No, that sense of belonging to somebody – not like, in a weird way, like ownership or summat,’ Louis scrunched up his nose. ‘No, like not wanting to be without somebody – those two can barely go a few hours before they’re whinging about missing the other, although that can be bloody annoying.’ He said. ‘How about you? You got a significant other?’

Nick scoffed loudly. ‘Nope. I mean, I mess about on occasions, but nothing serious.’ He said with a shrug.

‘Not found the right person yet either?’ Louis asked quietly.

Shaking his head, Nick sighed. ‘I guess not, no.’

*** 

Ten days later, Louis was getting into his car to head to Oliver’s christening, when his phone rang. Turning the car on, he answered it via the hands free mechanism in the car.

‘’lo?’ He said, opening the gates to the house and backing out of the driveway.  
‘It’s Nick, hi. I need some help.’ Nick said, sounding breathless.  
‘Look, I know you’re single and I’m single…’ Louis began to tease.  
‘No, you fuckwit! My car won’t start, and I can’t get a taxi, and I’m a bit stuck.’  
‘Where are you? At home?’ Louis asked, picking up his phone as he got to a traffic light and opening Google Maps.  
‘Yeah, can you get me on the way to the Christening?’  
‘Couldn’t you, like, walk quicker?’ Louis asked with a laugh.  
‘It’s raining and I don’t want to get my hair ruined.’ Nick replied.  
‘Oh my…yeah, I’ll swing by and get you!’

*** 

Later that evening, after the Christening, Louis had had a fair amount to drink.

‘Did you do this on purpose?’ He asked Harry, plonking himself down on a chair next to him.  
‘Do what on purpose?’ Harry asked, putting a cloth over his shoulder to burp Oli who had just finished his milk.  
‘Get me to spend time with Grimshaw?’

Harry frowned at him, a slight twinkle in his eye. ‘No, but why do you ask?’  
Louis glared at Harry. ‘No reason.’

Harry’s eyes lit up excitedly. ‘I know you Lou, remember?’  
‘Urgh, this is so inconvenient.’ Louis moaned, resting his head on Harry’s spare shoulder.  
‘How is fancying him inconvenient?’ Harry asked.

Louis sat up quickly. ‘Shh! I never said I fancy him!’

Harry raised an eyebrow at him. ‘You don’t then?’

Louis poked his tongue out at Harry. ‘Fine, alright, I might do.’   
‘I don’t want to say I told you so, but…’ Harry trailed off.  
‘Really? Because I think that’s exactly what you want to do.’ Louis glared at him.  
‘Are you going to ask him out?’  
‘What am I? 12? No, I am not.’

Harry frowned. ‘Why not?’  
‘Because we’re not exactly proper mates and…’  
‘But that’s a good thing – do it now before you’re friend zoned.’ Harry interrupted.  
‘What do you mean?’ Louis asked.  
‘Look, you spend too long with him, you’ll end up just mates and then neither of you will want to mess that up, so neither of you will do anything about it, and then you’ll both regret it.’ Harry reasoned.

Louis peered at Harry. ‘Does he like, like me, like me?’ He asked cautiously.

Harry shrugged. ‘You’ll have to work that out for yourself Lou. Ask him, I think I know what he’ll say.’ He winked.

*** 

Louis sat and watched Nick for a while and as he worked up the courage, he realised that Nick had started going around to say goodbye to people.

‘Shit.’ He muttered to himself as Nick approached him. ‘Hi.’ He smiled warmly.  
‘Hey, fellow Godfather. Thanks for the lift earlier. You getting a taxi home, I assume?’ Nick teased.  
Louis nodded. ‘Yeah, definitely.’  
‘Ok, well, nice to see you again.’ Nick smiled and started to turn away, but then turned back. ‘You know, you could maybe pop in tomorrow when you’ve picked your car up if you like? Maybe get some lunch or something?’ Nick suggested nervously.

Louis beamed at him. ‘I’d like that.’   
‘Good. See you later, bye Lou.’ 

Nick turned started to walk away and as he got to the door, Louis shook himself and grabbed his phone, wallet and jacket and took off after Nick.

‘Hey…so, you know, it’s dark out and I’d hate to think of you walking home alone.’ He said, catching up with Nick.

Nick jumped slightly as Louis appeared at his side. ‘Fuck, Louis, you … you’re likely to be the scariest thing I’d encounter!’ He laughed. ‘But yeah, could get mugged…’ He trailed off with a warm smile.  
‘And as I brought you here, I feel like, responsible for your safety.’ Louis nodded wisely.  
‘That’s so decent of you, you’ll make somebody a very good boyfriend or husband one day.’ Nick teased, nudging Louis’ arm as they walked out of the venue onto the road back to Nick’s flat.

Ten minutes later, they arrived in Nick’s road and came to a stand still outside of Nick’s flat.

‘So, do I now need to walk you back to the party?’ Nick teased as he leaned against the railing outside his flat.

Louis laughed and stepped a little closer to Nick. ‘Nah…I’m a big boy, I can probably manage to get myself back.’   
‘Uh huh…or…’ Nick trailed off, leaning forwards slightly and resting his hands on Louis’ hips.

Louis swallowed audibly as he took another step towards Nick.

‘Am I reading this wrong?’ Nick asked gently, his breathing a little heavy.  
‘No, no, you’re not.’ Louis said quickly, his heart racing in his chest. ‘Not at all.’ 

Nick slid his fore fingers through the belt loops on Louis’ smart trousers. ‘Thank fuck for that.’ He murmured, before he pulled Louis closer to him and pressed his mouth to Louis’.

Louis let out a moan that he had no control over as he pressed his body up against Nick’s, parting his lips and pushing his tongue into Nick’s mouth, raising his hands and holding tightly onto the back of Nick's neck, his index fingers playing with the hair at the base of Nick's neck.

They kissed fervently for a minute or so before Nick pulled away.

‘Not out here…’ He breathed, leaning his forehead against Louis’. ‘Your car…’ He asked hopefully.  
‘I’ll collect it tomorrow.’ Louis replied, chasing Nick’s lips again.  
‘Thank god!’ Nick laughed, turning and pulling Louis up the stairs to his flat.


End file.
